December 1, 2016

This set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P) of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

It's December 1st, so the time is finally here to open the advent calendar!

Let's flip the box to see the back!The box has the playmat and backdrop for the fun holiday scenes you create.

LEGO Friends started in 2012, so this is the 5th LEGO Friends Advent Calendar.

I thought it might be fun to show you what we got in the advent calendars in the past. Do you remember these?

November 25, 2016

Challenge yourself to build your favorite Holiday activity ~
maybe it's decorating your house, wrapping gifts, or cooking tasty
treats ~ imagine you are doing it in Heartlake City!- Use only authentic LEGO pieces- Mini-dolls encouraged, yet optional- No digital builds or photoshop backgrounds- Post images of your creation on Flickr- Add your photographs from now until January 25th, 2017- Create what you plan to do this season, or build what you did using sets you get as gifts over the HolidaysBe festive and share your annual traditions through Friends bricks!~~~

October 17, 2016

LEGO Friends will celebrate their 5th Birthday coming in January 2017 See all new sets on Friends Brickshere's an early list of some of the sets to be released then >> click "Read more" if you don't mind a bit of a spoiler :-)

July 30, 2016

Although it may still be hot in many parts of the world, we now get to look forward to counting down until the holidays and cozy winter activities with Friends. This year it's Emma and Naomi enjoying a cuppa cocoa near a small bonfire.

Back of the box shows how we open the flap to reveal more of the inside details, allowing for a build/play mat too.
The daily "surprise" builds mostly feature indoor fun, with a few classic outdoor winter activities. It looks to be a nice balance of crafts, music, gifts, food, pets, and typical holiday fun -- such as mailing gifts!Spoiler alert >> If you don't want to see the daily small builds, then don't click the "Read more" link below that leads to the rest of this post ... if you can resist :-)

July 28, 2016

Design nuance is the capture of the slightest details in color or form to connect the visuals of an object to the mind's cognitive awareness of a specific category. Let's take the watermelon, for example.

We can see Mini-doll clothing, especially tops, as a blank canvas for the Design team to blend colors, shapes, activities, seasons, themes, and correlate to a set's aesthetic appeal. Watermelon is a favorite hot weather fruit for sure. Although it first appeared this January in the Heartlake Supermarket, the slices came with the Amusement Park sets a few months later. Fairground food often offers watermelon for a quenching snack.
Having Mia & Olivia's tops be a graphic representation (motif) of a watermelon not only ties the look to the sets' activities (fun in the sun), it crosses the realm of play into real-life. Lots of kids, especially girls, wear shirts with some graphic variation of the watermelon's curve, seeds, and colors.
The designers used the darker green rind color, layered with the paler green inner-rind, then an exploding array of watermelons seeds. Considering most are "spit out" during consumption, it's fitting! The lime-green color of the torso section "eludes" to watermelon, without having to be red or pink. That would be too obvious.
Although many fans gush over new pieces offered by the Friends theme -- of which there are many lovely colors and elemental uses for 3D expression -- some of these more subtle cues go un-hyped.

You can see the various bricks, pieces, elements, and design styles in the Amusement Park sets. In case these are just now appearing in your local stores, our detailed reviews (linked from the page this graphic above ^ opens to) can give you insight into which aspects will help make your choice for collecting and building. Whether it's a building technique, a hue array, a specific brick, or for the "action" functions of a set, browsing through a review can always give more information than just a product listing. This wave of sets certainly does have surprising moving parts.
The Heartlake Riding Club set review is also linked, under the Heartlake City sets. It also contains the watermelon slice, as well as the lattice-top cherry pie quarter-tiles. The traditional sets stay close to Friends love of animals -- notably, the horse!
We'll be horsing around more later on ...

July 21, 2016

Load up the cooler and get your best board ready! It’s time to drive down to the beach and catch some waves!

This
new Lego Creator set represents the good times, when surfing was cool,
the beach party lifestyle was hip, and rolling around in your bug was
all the freedom you needed.

This is not a FRIENDS SET, but just look at all those Dark Azure bricks!!!! Its so pretty... so we just had to review it!

This
set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P)
of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer.Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

Front of the Box

The
box art on the front of this new Creator set shows the Volkswagen
Beetle cruising down a sandy road towards the ocean. The car has a
roof rack sporting a cooler and surf board. There is also top view of
the car showing the roof rack detail and the models' real dimensions.

Back of the Box

The
back of the box continues the theme from the front, showing the
Volkswagen Beetle parked at the beach with the blanket, cooler, and surf
board ready for use. The inset photos show many details highlighting
important play features and the high level of detail provided throughout.

Long Side of Box

I
very much appreciate that the Creator series Lego sets all include a
parts list right on the box! Seeing what parts are in the box is useful
information that I wish Lego would include on the boxes of all Lego Sets.

July 14, 2016

Heartlake Performance School is where future star performers take lessons in singing, dancing and acting, and of course, Andrea is a dedicated student there!Are you interested in their ballet class or voice lesson? Then why don’t you take a tour of the new school!

This set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P) of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

Box Front

The school building looks enormous! The familiar purple background on the box art is not fully shown because the upper part of the building is partially blocking it!

June 29, 2016

Ladies and gentlemen, children big and small, please join me for an
afternoon of fun in the new spacey blue roller coaster and the park's
other attractions!

This
set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P)
of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer.Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

Wow!
Not that I didn't know it already before, but this is a big set. I
believe it is the main attraction at the amusement park this summer. I
will do my best in showing you all it has to offer, but as you can see
from the box, there is a lot going on!!

Let's
open up the box and find no less than eight numbered bags plus two
other bags! The instructions are also in a bag and there are two swirly
yellow bars as well. Somehow I have a feeling there will be a lot of
technic pins! Notice how bags numbered 7 and 8 are the old fashioned
ones. Well, they are not that old, but I guess TLG must still have some
unused leftovers in their factory stock.

For
once, and surprisingly for such a set, there is only one booklet, a
nice sturdy heavy one. And as good as new since it was protected by the
plastic bag along with a single sheet of stickers.

June 28, 2016

It's time for some summer thrills! With this Lego set Olivia and Ben
can buy tickets for the park, challenge each other in the bumper cars,
eat some cotton candy, and then try to keep it all in while spinning
around on the swing ride!

This
set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P)
of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

Front of the Box

The
box art of this set has all the usual Friends Amusement Park elements
including beveled sides, bright purplish colors, and sparkly lights in
the ribbon banner. The background art faintly shows the Space Ride,
which would be great addition to this set.

The box also shows that this set comes with Olivia and Ben, and that they both like cotton candy!

Back of the Box

The
back has illustrations showing how to use the swing ride and suggests
some ways kids can play with the bumper cars and ticket booth. I find
it quite interesting that this set is called Bumper Cars, but the main
element described on the back is the swing ride. Olivia and her BFF’s
are also shown at the bottom left wearing their Amusement Park themed
outfits. Olivia appears to have borrowed Mia’s tank top for this trip
to the amusement park!

June 23, 2016

The Heartlake Riding Club is a new place where horse lovers gather! Meet the two new horses, Ninja and Spice! Not into horses? You should still stop by and try their famous homemade cherry pie!

This set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P) of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

Box Front

The background scenery is simply perfect. The lovely wisteria flowers go so well with the purple accents used here and there in this set.

Box Back

Interestingly, the featured Friend of the set is Stephanie! Although Mia was originally the animal lover and the skilled horseback rider of the group, Stephanie has been included in a horse-themed set just as often as Mia.

June 19, 2016

Summer
is almost here, time to take a break, the amusement park is open late,
time is just about right to go check out the wiener shaped hot dog
stand!!

This set was provided by the AFOL Relations &
Programs team (AR&P) of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing
set details with fans.Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

I
hear the word is that reviews should be geared more towards AFOL's than
children (that's Adults Fan Of Lego!). In this day and age, I wonder
what makes us adults buy and play with LEGO. The news around us are
quite dreary and there is always this one special place where one can
escape reality and let their imagination flow freely, reconnecting with
the innocence, I want to say candidness, of childhood. Whether we like
to collect sets for display or reuse parts to build our own fantasies,
we are all big children at heart and we should never forget that. In
reviewing the two sets I have on my to-do list, I will do my best in
staying faithfull to my inner child. Without further ado, lets see what
these sets that were on the top of my list this season have to say.
Starting with #41129: the Amusement Park Hot Dog Stand.

As
mentioned by my fellow Friends Bricks reviewers, the lit up glittery
ribbon makes the amusement park sub theme instantly recognizable. We've
witnessed other LEGO parks like the 76035 Jokerland or 10247 Ferris
Wheel and I find it really cool to develop that idea in one of LEGO's
own licenses. And since there are quite a few different sets to chose
from in that range, it makes it a wallet friendly theme as well that
should be able to please boys and girls alike.

There
are many reasons why I chose this set. I could tell from the back of
the box it would be full of groovy accessories and surprises. Let's not
waste any time scanning the box again, it's been sitting around for a
good week, that's how busy I've been, I let the urgency come, now that
it's here, let's open it up already!